Book 7
17
From what has been said, then, it is clear how many meanings there are of the term affection, and that all the forms of friendship carry back to the first one.
1
It is relative to our inquiry to consider also the subject of agreement of feeling and kindly feelingThese are Solomon’s versions of the terms usually rendered concord and goodwill. ; for some people think that they are the same thing, and others that they cannot exist apart. Kindly feeling is neither entirely distinct from friendship nor yet identical with it.
2
If friendship is divided into three modes, kindly feeling is not found in the friendship of utility nor in friendship for pleasure. If A wishes B prosperity because he is useful, the motive of his wish would be not B’s interest but his own, whereas it is thought that kindly feeling like . . .Perhaps virtuous friendship should be supplied. is not for the sake of the person who feels it himself but for the sake of him for whom he feels kindly; and if kindly feeling were found in friendship for the pleasant, men would feel kindly even towards inanimate objects. So that it is clear that kindly feeling has to do with the friendship that is based on character.
3
But it is the mark of one who feels kindly only to wish good, whereas it is the mark of the friend also to do the good that he wishes; for kindly feeling is the beginning of friendship, as every friend feels kindly, but not everyone who feels kindly is a friend, since the kindly man is only as it were making a beginning. Therefore kindly feeling is the beginning of friendship, but it is not friendship.
3
For it is thought that friends agree in feeling, and that those who agree in feeling are friends.
